Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a technology for binning a plurality of pixel data.
Demands for digital cameras are explosively increasing along with the advancement of video communication through the Internet. Also, as mobile communication terminals, such as Person Digital Assistants (PDAs) and Code Division Multiple Access (COMA) terminals, equipped with cameras become popular, the demands for small-sized camera modules are increasing as well.
A camera module basically includes an image sensor. An image sensor generally refers to a device for transforming an optical image into electrical signals. As for the image sensor, a Charge Coupled Device (CCD) and a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor are widely used.
The CCD is complicated in its driving method, consumes much power, and has a complex fabrication process due to many masking processes. Moreover, since a signal processing circuit cannot be realized within a single chip, it may be difficult to embody the CCD as one chip. On the contrary, a CMOS image sensor can have monolithic integration of control, driving, and signal processing circuits in a single chip. Moreover, it may be more economical to use the CMOS image sensor than to use the conventional CCD, because the CMOS image sensor may operate at a lower power level, consume a smaller amount of power, and be compatible with more peripheral devices in comparison to the CCD and there is a useful standard CMOS fabrication process established.
The number of pixels of an image sensor increases, as technology progresses. In other words, the definition/resolution of an image sensor increases. The increased definition leads to an increase in the amount of data to be processed. Therefore, a technology of binning data of a plurality of pixels into/as one data is being used. According to the conventional pixel binning technology, binning is performed on a pixel array. In this case, however, binning is limited to using a certain pixel structure.